Habitat variables influencing bird assemblage patterns across maize and legume fields before and after harvest in West Africa

Though agriculture has been linked to the decline in bird populations due to the associated changes in vegetation structure and composition, its potential to sustain birds has been explored over time. A sustainable agricultural landscape should be one that has the capacity to support bird species all year. To this end, we investigated the factors influencing pre- and post-harvest farm conditions on bird abundance, richness, and feeding guilds in three different crop fields in Jos-East and North, central Nigeria. We used line transects to survey birds and vegetation variables from 30 fields each of legumes, maize, and mixed (maize and soya bean) during the pre- and post-harvest periods in central Nigeria. We modeled the effects of field conditions and vegetation parameters on bird species richness and encounter rates at overall and feeding-guild levels. Our results showed that bird species richness was significantly higher pre-harvest than post-harvest. Bird encounter rate and feeding gu..., Bird Sampling
Bird species were surveyed using the line transect method. A transect was laid along the longest side of the field such that it was positioned between the field and a 10 m matrix habitat (Figure 2A and B). All fields used in the study had a nearly rectangular shape. The open nature of the area made it possible to detect birds ahead of time and the small size of the field allowed birds to be detected from one end of the field to the other while walking a transect. However, in instances where the observer was uncertain if a sighted bird was within 10 m of the field edge, the observer noted the bird's perch location relative to the closest landmark. After walking the transect, the distance from the field boundary to where the bird was perched was measured using a GPS. Additionally, to address challenges in counting birds at the edge on the far end of the field, the observer strategically positioned himself upon reaching the field to scan through the edge without disturbing bi..., , # Habitat variables influencing bird assemblage patterns across maize and legume fields before and after harvest in West Africa

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g4f4qrfzw](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g4f4qrfzw)

The dataset contains variables recorded during the study. Birds were recorded during the pre- and post-harvest periods using a line transect. Each site had three crop types of 10 replicates and was visited four times in each period. Birds seen or heard during each visit were identified and numbers recorded. 

## Description of the data and file structure

Two separate data files contain numerical, continuous, and categorical variables; the EncounterrateWLB and RichnessWLB files.

Unique variables in the EncounterrateWLB file are:

* number: refers to the count of birds recorded in each field

* encounter_rate: refer to the calculated encounter rate of birds using the formula \"number of birds/length of the transect\"

* guild: refers to the feeding guild of individual bird spe...